TV review: Entrapped, the new season of Trapped, has killed my Scandi Noir love affair

Entrapped: In this 'Trapped' sequel, Andri and Hinrika dig into the murder of a cult member linked to a biker gang's land dispute and a woman's 2013 disappearance. Starring:Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson

The Queen’s reign wasn’t the only thing that came to an end recently.

After watching a few episodes of Entrapped on Netflix, my love affair with Scandi Noir is over for good. It’s as foolishly old-fashioned as boot-cut jeans and joining WhatsApp groups.

The foolishness here was thinking that Entrapped could be as good as its predecessor Trapped, the gripping mood-monster of an Icelandic murder mystery that restored our faith in Scandi Noir.

I wolfed down the two seasons when it was called Trapped, but there is more than a name change here.

Entrapped: lafur Darri lafsson as Andri lafsson, Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir as Hinrika Kristjánsdóttir

The lumbering sad cop, Andri, is still front and centre, along with his former colleague and friend Hinrika. The sun never shines. Half the dialogue takes place in a car, allowing loving long-shots of the Icelandic coast, which is like Kerry with knobs on. A man is murdered, the cops are called — so far so Scandi.

Except the writers were trying too hard. My guess is they could feel the life going out of the Noir genre, and that tropes like broken marriages, angry young men, sad cops and pregnant silences wouldn’t cut it anymore. So they decided to spice it up with a war between a hippy cult and a biker gang called The Horns.

Entrapped: a neopagan and peaceful sect led by its founder and spiritual leader Oddur (Egill lafsson), has built a camp but a group of Icelandic bikers, led by an angry young man, claims the sacred site

Forget The Killing — this is like Sons of Anarchy crossed with Wild Wild Country, but with all the good bits taken out. The cult is like something you’d expect to find in West Cork, all long robes and rituals around the fire. Their spiritual leader, Oddur, is about as charismatic as Oireachtas TV.

He’s fighting one of the bikers, Gunnar, over ownership of a plot of land. Gunnar calls in some more bikers from Denmark, led by a guy called Hopper.

We’re supposed to be afraid of Hopper. The only frightening thing here is how a once great TV show has slid down the slope. (The first season of Trapped was genuinely one of the best crime dramas I’ve ever seen.) I watched two episodes of Entrapped in sad silence, with my wife. That’s it for us and Scandi Noir.

Entrapped has ended our writer's love affair with Scandi noir

I was beginning to think that it might be it for us and TV shows. House of the Dragon didn’t deliver on its early promise; Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is comically terrible.

And then I saw someone recommending The Capture in the Guardian. Season 2 is out now on BBC, with some saying it’s up there with Spooks and Line Of Duty.

If you can get access to the BBC iPlayer, I’d start with the opening episode of season 1. I was hooked after 3 minutes, as the look on a woman’s face told us she’d spotted something awful on live CCTV footage that was playing off-screen. The plot unwinds without me noticing, like it does in all the best shows. Give The Capture a watch.

Entrapped features lafur Darri lafsson as Andri lafsson, Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir as Hinrika Kristjánsdóttir along with Thomas Bo Larsen, Egill lafsson, Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir, Haraldur Ari Stefánsson, Fririk Róbertsson, and Orsteinn Gunnarsson

Scandi Noir might be gone, Trapped was the last hurrah. But there is still great work floating around. There’s hope for the telly yet.